Harikrishna held in 9th round match, a draw away from title

Paks, Hungary, Aug 7 (UNI) Grandmaster P Harikrishna is just a draw away from the title at the Gyorgy Marx Memorial Chess Meet after the Indian drew his penultimate round game against Wang Yue of China.

The Indian GM faces local favourite Ferenc Berkes and a draw would be sufficient for him to pocket the title.

Harikrishna has six points after nine rounds and his nearest rival Zahar Efimenko is full one point behind with one more round to go in the six-player contest.

Harikrishna has so far recorded two wins -- against Peter Acs of Hungary in the first round and Zoltan Almasi in the eighth -- and seven draws in his nine outings.

The other ninth round matches also failed to yield any result with Almasi splitting point with Zahar Efimenko and Acs signing truce with Berkes.

Standing after round nine: 1. P Harikrishna, Ind (6) 2. Zahar Efimenko (5) 3. Wang Yue and Zoltan Almasi (4.5) 5. Ferenc Berkes (4) 6. Peter Acs (3) UNI XC AY PM BS1347